During the beginning of the German invasions during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Jacques Jaujard, the director of the French Musées Nationaux, anticipating the fall of France, decided to organize the evacuation of the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

art collection to the provinces.

Evacuation of the art collection

On 25 August 1939, the Louvre was closed for three days, officially for repairs. However, much of the Louvre art collection was hauled on trucks (203 vehicles transporting 1862 wooden cases) and sent to

Château de Chambord The Château de Chambord () in Chambord, Centre-Val de Loire, France, is one of the most recognisable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with cla ...

. The crates had a marking to identify the importance of the art pieces they contained: a yellow circle for very valuable art pieces, green for major works and red for world treasures (the ''

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a Half length portrait, half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described ...

'' was marked with three red circles). Some of the art pieces were too big to be fit in a truck. For example ''

The Raft of the Medusa ''The Raft of the Medusa'' (french: Le Radeau de la Méduse ) – originally titled ''Scène de Naufrage'' (''Shipwreck Scene'') – is an oil painting of 1818–19 by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791� ...

'' had to be covered with a blanket. When the truck initially arrived at Versailles on its route to Chambord, the canvas touched an electric cable and created a short-circuit which switched off the electricity in the whole town. After that, the routes were carefully planned to avoid this type of problem, and attendants with poles were responsible for dealing with electric or phone cables. The last art piece to leave the museum was the ''

Winged Victory of Samothrace The ''Winged Victory of Samothrace'', or the ''Nike of Samothrace'', is a votive monument originally found on the island of Samothrace, north of the Aegean Sea. It is a masterpiece of Greek sculpture from the Hellenistic era, dating from the be ...

'', which was moved on September 3, 1939, the day the French ultimatum to Germany expired. Throughout the war, the art pieces were clandestinely moved from chateau to chateau to avoid being taken back by the Nazis. For example, the ''Mona Lisa'' was moved from Chambord to several castles and abbeys, to finish at the end of the war at the Musée Ingres in

Montauban Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, ...

. The ''Winged Victory of Samothrace'' and ''

Venus de Milo The ''Venus de Milo'' (; el, Αφροδίτη της Μήλου, Afrodíti tis Mílou) is an ancient Greek sculpture that was created during the Hellenistic period, sometime between 150 and 125 BC. It is one of the most famous works of ancient ...

'' were kept at

Château de Valençay Château de Valençay is a château in the commune of Valençay, in the Indre department of France. It was a residence of the d'Estampes and Talleyrand-Périgord families. Although it is part of the province of Berry, its architecture invit ...

, which was spared the German occupation on a technicality.

The arrival of the German army in Paris

On 16 August 1940, count Franz von Wolff-Metternich, who was responsible of the conservation of the French art collections under the Kunstschutz principle, arrived in Paris to oversee France's art collection, but the museum was almost empty. He knew what was going on but voluntarily did not do anything.

References

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The Louvre During the War
{{World War II Art crime Nazi war crimes in France Art and cultural repatriation after World War II Looting Museum crime

Evacuation of the art collection

The arrival of the German army in Paris

See also

References

Bibliography

External links